Portrait of the Blogger on Her Birthday

Funky, right? Taken from the rooftop terrace of the Hotel Nelligan in Old Montréal.

This is where the celebrations began...

And this is where they continued the following morning...

Sparrow. Yum.

That's rhubarb and strawberry french toast. Oh yes.

Neighbours, friends, Liliane's favourite people.

This photo gives you a good idea of the general chaos.

Rose and Liliane each had a chocolate beignet and then sparks starting shooting out of their butts. In a good, although energetic, way.

My kid, the Energizer Bunny. Only noisier.

This little guy was pretty calm. Hi Sam! Glad we didn't give you a chocolate beignet!

My faithful pals and dining companions, veterans of many a birthday meal.

Ariel and I comparing pedicures and silver sandals.

In the end I went to Candy and had a good time.

Stephane and Pierre comparing toys iPods.

I have no photo evidence for the rest of my day, including a movie date with Stéphane (we saw the Twilight movie, don't judge me! Although we only went because the times for A-Team weren't working out so you can totally judge me for that. ANYWAY.) but we had a great time and I felt thoroughly celebrated. Thanks everyone!

In other news:

*It's been captial-H HOT around these parts (sorry, Forrest Gump is on in the background so I'm typing with an accent) for the last week so my evening activities have been restricted to having a shower and watching the Big Bang Theory on DVD with the fan on full throttle. I'm only blogging now because I'm out of episodes. True story.

*My Grandfather has moved to an assisted-care facility close to my Mom (and two of my three uncles) and is doing pretty well. Grandma is still in the hospital but she is supposed to be released soon and the next step is to ensure that she can get into the same place. They can't live together since she'll need more help than he does, but they can live closer. I'm making peace with the changes from afar. I talked to my Grandpa this week and he sounds pretty good. I asked for a cozy blanket from their house. That makes me feel better.

*We have decided to plan our vacation this September to.. Disneyworld! Liliane will be almost 3 years old and it seems like a good time to just go for it. If you have ANY ADVICE AT ALL, please for the love of my sanity, share your thoughts! I'm in full-on research mode and feeling the anxiety. What if I choose the WRONG theme resort with the WRONG dining package resulting in the WRONG sparkly-magical-park-hopping-drain-your-savings Disney experience?

*Hey! I went to my first Outdoor Cardio class! I LOVED it. To confirm my newfound commitment, I completely bailed on my two classes last week. Call me a weenie, but I wasn't up for the HEAT STROKE section of the class that would fall somewhere between "Welcome everybody" and "Hey, who's the wheezing, sweaty, chubby chick back there?" I was managing to walk to and from work in 40+ degrees, but that was IT. So take a hike humidity, Mama has a double chin to work on.

Stay cool!

Mah Birfday

I'm turning 36 on Saturday. Boo.

But there is the possibility of presents!

Yay!

So here's mah list:

I know I'm only a year or so behind, but I love this grey nail polish from American Apparel.

Dying to read this book. Those two were a hot mess.

I read Kathy Reichs every summer - the perfect beach book. Even if you're nowhere near the ocean.

My brother and SIL told me about this cookbook. Pretty sure that I must have it.

Speaking of books - did you know that there is a Netflix but for books? In Canada? And they have gift certificates. Just sayin'.

This is my favourite massage destination. Not the floaty hippy baths, just the massage. In case you were wondering.

I saw a woman walking around in these on the weekend and my shoe envy went through the roof. I didn't even know I wanted obnoxious yellow flip flops, but it turns out that I DO. Size 9.

I've been wanting to try this new nail bar but I think Stéphane has got this covered. I'll let you know how it goes.

I don't think these would even look good on me, but I drool over nice sunglasses that do not come from somewhere that also sells cotton balls and shampoo.

I am in love with these kooky earrings from Etsy:

Fresh flowers are in my top five all-time favourite gifts. Can't go wrong with that.

*EDITED TO ADD*

I covet these amazing cupcake transport thingys. I have a dream to be able to bring cupcakes somewhere without involving my roasting pans.

Aw, shucks. Who needs presents when I have these two?

Just kidding. Bring on the booty.

Friday Quickie

The plan today: run a few errands (including buying shoes that I need for my outdoor cardio class starting NEXT WEEK - Gah.) then go pick up L so we can spend some time at the wading pool before dinner. No plans to update my blog, but the siren call of our shiny new iMac sucked me in again.

Is there an app for that? (Will that joke ever get old? Apparently not.)

We did a little St. Jean celebrating yesterday morning before the rain hit and participated in a do-it-yourself face painting workshop at our neighbourhood fête.

See? That's a butterfly!

I would like to say that I painted that extra chin on myself, but sadly, no. This photo has been brought to you by my friends at Haagen-Daas. And all these recent quips about my weight have been brought to you by my other friends, HORMONES! Please ignore them.

Artistically placed purple heart on her forehead. Avant-garde, my friends.

That's French for "mad skilz."

Grateful that she's at the age where almost everything I do is cool. I hear that doesn't last forever (what??).

So, yeah. Getting up now to clean up and head out to get some shoes. And probably some non-yoga-pants workout gear. If you follow me on Twitter/FB, you already know that I was equal parts thrilled and traumatized by my official sign up for my Cardio Plein Air course that starts next week. Thrilled to be actually DOING IT and traumatized to have witnessed part of an actual class which involved a lot of people sweating and the instructor screaming at them to RUN SLACKERS RUN! Luckily that class was a Boot Camp. I won't be going to the Boot Camp class. Not yet.

Otherwise, hoping to get to Toy Story 3 this weekend and to church, for a change. Liliane's current favourite bedtime story is Jonah and the Beeeeg Fith or Grosse Baleine. She's completely fascinated by the idea of someone being swallowed by a whale. Toddlers are so much fun.

Speaking of fun, one of my new favourite bloggers (Under the Highchair in my blog list) posted a link to a recipe for pita bread that you can make with your kids! Not sure if it will work with MY kid, but I want to give it a try. Here's hoping I can get the dough on the tray and into the oven before she tries to eat it all.

UPDATE: My Grandmother's health is improving steadily. Thank you all for your support! Looks like she and my Grandfather will be moving to an assisted care facility pretty soon, so the next big step is to ensure that they can be as close to each other as possible. I'm coming to terms with the whole idea since it's nice knowing that they will be around lots of other people and that they will be even closer to their kids and grandkids. It's all good. Or it will be.

Wordless Wednesday: First Paw-sickel. Ever.

I Haz a Cuzin, Nom Nom Nom and Change = Theresa FAIL

My SIL posted about their visit last weekend and it's all articulate and poetic and her photos rock and everything so please read that.

Then scroll down and look at my photos which tell the same story: Liliane and my nephew Asher (who is cute enough to eat, sorry about those toes, buddy) were completely mesmerized by one another.

As Bari said, we did a lot of hanging around in pajamas and working around nap schedules. And eating. Now THOSE would have been some good pictures. We ate well.

And there was a bath.

And Uncle Matthew was in charge.

The only person Asher liked more than Liliane was Uncle Stéphane.

Toys! Awesome!

There was a lot of smiling.

Until we tried to set up a picture and then it was all "wha-?"

'kay dude, we are OUTTA here.

They headed back on Monday afternoon (Liliane would packed herself in one of their suitcases if she could have) and we've been talking about Asher ever since. A lot of "where is Asher?" and "is Asher sleeping?" etc. Good thing we're going down to NYC next month for another dose of the baby love.

In other news... My grandmother is actually doing really well. She's still in the hospital but the bleeding seems to have stopped and she's stabilizing. Looks like the best idea is for her to move into an assisted living facility although it's not clear yet what level of care she will need. My grandfather will of course move with her so that means that they won't be living in their house anymore.

So funny how news like that sorta hangs out in my subconscious and quietly wreaks havoc. It's actually really positive when you think about it logically. They are going to be together, my grandmother is physically strong and moving towards being healthy plus she's in good spirits.

Where I get stuck is the idea that they won't be in their house anymore. The house where I learned to walk, where I spent the night before my wedding, where I played countless games of Skil-Roll and crokinole. Where I admired my grandmother's garden and ate my weight in raisin bread at the kitchen table and passed the turkey a hundred times in the dining room.

Their house is one of my first stops when I go back to Vancouver. At the beginning it was a meal or two and over the years as their energy waned, I used to just drop in for coffee and a chat. This last Christmas we let Liliane run all over their place one afternoon and I am so very glad to have all those pictures, all those memories.

I know it's only a place. But it's a touchstone, a rock in my increasingly far-reaching personal landscape. And it's not easy to accept that I won't have that anymore. That they won't be there for me anymore.

Ouch. How selfish. But that's where I'm at, it's all about me. I'm such a jerk. But it's my blog, so. Yeah.

ANYWAY, waiting to hear what the next step is. Unable to respond to the inevitable "what do you want to keep from the house?" Which is funny because my Grandmother particularly has been insisting over the last few years that everyone identify what they want to keep. "Put your tape on it" has become a bit of an inside family joke. They have spent enough time looking after older and infirm relatives and disposing of other people's stuff once they pass that they wanted to be organized when the time came. Well, thankfully they are both still here, but it seems like that time has come.

So that's that. Here in Quebec we have our provincial holiday next Thursday so that's a day off plus I am supersizing my weekend and taking Friday off also. Hoping that construction next door is finally done so I can clean off the back patio once and for ALL. Not holding my breath.

I have an idea for a Wordless Wednesday post so check back in a couple of days!